Peter's Food Service is a

Bedwas Bedwas is a town situated two miles north-east of Caerphilly, south Wales, situated in the Caerphilly (county borough), Caerphilly county borough, within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshi ...

, Wales based baker and supplier of pies, pasties, slices, sausage rolls and factored products into retail, food service, catering and hospitality outlets across the United Kingdom. Today it is one of the largest employers in Wales, and one of the largest cold meat distributors in the United Kingdom.

History

The company was founded by Thomas Stanley Thomas. In 1971 his children bought a factory unit on the Pant Glas Industrial Estate

in Gwent. The children included Stanley Thomas and Peter Thomas A few years later was joined by his brother and sister, selling pies to local fish and chip shops under the name Peter's Savoury Products. In 1976, the business moved to a new factory at Bedwas House Industrial Estate in Caerphilly, to enable distribution down the

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is the third longest motorway in the United Kingdom, running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh ele ...

and eventually into

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. In 1988, the business was sold to Grand Metropolitan for in excess of £95m. Peter's Savoury Products purchased Harry Thomas & Sons (Newport butchers chain, and factory) in the mid-1980s and Henry Telfers van sales business in August 1989. After Grand Metropolitan merged with

Guinness Guinness () is a stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at Guinness Brewery, St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in the 18th century. It is now owned by the British-based Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic bever ...

to form

Diageo Diageo plc ( ) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It is a major distributor of Scotch whisky and other spirits and operates from 132 sites around the world ...

, the food businesses were demerged. Peter's Food Services became an independent listed company. However, after acquiring the UK assets of Irish foods producer Glanbia in 2002, by 2004 the company was in severe trouble, and sold its catering business to Brake Brothers. In 2007, Peter's launched their Seriously Tasty range, and products through brand partnerships with Quorn,

Heinz The Kraft Heinz Foods Company, formerly the H. J. Heinz Company and commonly known as Heinz (), is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. ...

, Sharwoods and

Bisto Bisto is a popular and well-known brand of gravy and other food products in the United Kingdom and Ireland, currently owned by Premier Foods. History The first Bisto product, in 1908, was a meat-flavoured gravy powder which rapidly became a bes ...

. They also expanded production, securing “own label” contracts with major supermarkets including

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK r ...

Lidl Lidl ( ) is a trademark, used by two Germany, German international discount supermarket, discount retailer chain store, chains that operates over 12,600 stores. The ''LD Stiftung'' operates the stores in Germany and the ''Lidl Stiftung & Co. K ...

and

Coop Coop or Co-op most often refer to: * Chicken coop or other animal enclosure * Cooperative or co-operative ("co-op"), an association co-operating for mutual social, economic or cultural benefit ** Consumer cooperative ** Food cooperative ** Housin ...

Today

The company today retains manufacturing assets in Bedwas, its van sales network as well as ten regional depots (located at Bedwas,

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, Birmingham, Warrington, Durham, Ossett,

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...

, Sidcup and

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

) and employ circa 900 staff. Peter's Pies celebrated 40 years in business with a special "Cardiff pie", which contained beef cuts, onion and gravy encased in shortcrust pastry.

References

External links

* {{British pies Caerphilly Food and drink companies established in 1971 Food and drink companies of Wales Meat companies of the United Kingdom British pie brands